From the podcast: Author John Yeager on coaching, leadership

John Yeager is the author of "The Coaching Zone: Next Level Leadership in Sports."

On this week’s episode of New England Lacrosse Journal’s “Chasing The Goal” podcast, hosts Kyle Devitte and Jack Piatelli were joined by author John Yeager.

Yeager’s presentations and training programs have inspired audiences around the United States because they draw on his broad experience as an illustrious athlete, experienced coach and organizational consultant.

As a former elite lacrosse goaltender at the high school, college and professional levels, John is a member of the New England, Eastern Massachusetts and UMass Boston/Boston State College halls of fame.

He translated what he learned as an athlete into effective high school and college coaching in Massachusetts and Indiana, including a successful stint at Culver Academy.

Extending his interests beyond the playing field, he earned his doctorate in education at Boston University. Later he graduated from the country’s first graduate-level program in the applied positive psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Yeager wrote his latest book, “The Coaching Zone: Next Level Leadership in Sports” with Jon Cunha. Cunha is a licensed mental health counselor that specializes in working with ADHD, anxiety, depression and mental performance.

Watch the full podcast below on YouTube. It’s also available on all major podcast platforms. If you enjoy it, please leave a rating and a review. Watch more episodes on the Chasing the Goal podcast channel.

Here are some excerpts from the pod.

Jack Piatelli: What I love about the book, John, is you talk about evaluation. So many coaches coach and they’re evaluating their players all the time, but you need to take that time to evaluate yourself as a coach and you know how effective you are, how passionate you are. You talk about passion (and) you talk about purpose. Can you expand on that?

John Yeager: Well, the idea is that passion and focus kind of seem opposites, but they need to live together. And how can coaches, no matter where they are in their coaching journey, go back and reflect on that? And I’m really looking for coaches who are really what we’ve heard people say is conscious competence, okay? That they want to be able to grow. They know their strengths and they also know their blind spots. And then how can they look at those blind spots and actually grow from there to be better coaches over time, instead of just staying stale and where they are right now?

JP: In part two of your book, you talk about empowering and leading. You talk about getting the job done and empowering the individuals to get the job done. Can they get the job done without being empowered? 

JY: Sometimes they can get the job done, but not empowered and have ownership of what they do. Their satisfaction and enjoyment in the game suffers. That’s going to be an incredibly talented person who can get the job done no matter what. Three goals, two assists, no matter what. OK?

But the bottom line is that they feel empowered. Do they have ownership? Do they own what they do? And that gets us to another polarity. The individual and the team feel competent as an individual, but also a major part of that there too. So, yes, I think the answer is that you have to be empowered and realize that you bring satisfaction and enjoyment in relation to the performance that you have. Because we’re human beings; we’re fragile, OK? And we make mistakes. So it changes.

That’s kind of the joy of sports and that’s why it’s a vehicle for happiness. But also it doesn’t always go the way you want it to go. And that’s pretty cool, I think, because it gives you a chance to do a do-over and to bring that satisfaction and enjoyment in there. 

@TheKyleDevitte
[email protected]

More Episodes